Budget gaming doesn’t have to be a term that incites cringes and thoughts of poorly made products. Instead, Cooler Master thinks it might have nailed the new expectation for a budget gaming monitor with its new GA2501, and it manages to hit 100Hz despite its cost-saving measures.
Cooler Master is intentionally steering clear of competing against the higher-tier products that appear on our best gaming monitors list, instead targeting gamers who are looking to sacrifice some features in order to save some cash.
While the North American pricing and availability are yet to be confirmed, the Cooler Master GA2501 appears to be launching in Europe for around €110.
For this price, you’re getting a 100Hz IPS display that also includes a VGA port with a maximum refresh rate of 75Hz. It has a 1ms MPRT (Moving Pixel Response Time), but the GtG (Grey-to-Grey) is slightly slower at 4ms, but this is an expected performance drop given the price point.
The DCI-P3 color space coverage sits at 84%, which is a reasonably wide range for a budget display. Overall, won’t be competing with a display like the MSI MAG 32CQRF QD, but given the price difference sits at up to $300, it’s hard to be too disappointed.
Outside of the display quality, you’re limited by the manoeuvrability of the Cooler Master GA2501. It has a tilt adjustment between 5 and 20 degrees but no swivel, pivot, or height adjustment at all.
Ultimately, for the current prospective price, getting a full 1080p, 100Hz display is a decent deal. Whether you’re looking to utilize the Cooler Master GA2501 as a second screen or your primary gaming display, you could do a lot worse.
If you’re looking for something to make your games pop, you can instead check out our picks for the best 4K gaming monitors and try to stay ahead of the market.